As with traditional square mosaics, each tile is a different colour. By taking a step back, the overall image reveals itself.

Escher created his famous tessellating ‘Lizards’ in 1942.

For the birthday portrait, Escher’s iconic ‘Lizards’ tessellation was used to form the shape of the tile. They were individually coloured to reveal the underlying portrait of Escher himself.

The lizard pattern crawls across the canvas to reveal the underlying portrait of Escher.

The portrait is a celebration of M C Escher and his outstanding work in tessellation; a homage to the driving inspiration of Tessellation Art. If you would like to celebrate M C Escher’s birthday you can visit the facebook page World Tessellation Day: June 17. There is also a fantastic biographical facebook page well worth visiting called M. C. Escher. There are images, videos, quotes and a detailed timeline of his life.